New Table

[scott_b]

Hi John,

I love the table that you built, I don't think I could design something I would like more. I am curious how you built the top. Type of wood, how you prepared it and how you joined the boards and finished them. I would like to duplicate your table top to use as an island extension in our kitchen for an expanded eating area. Any info you can share would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[jd]

Hi Scott, thanks for the compliments!

The table was made of Douglas fir. I used my jointer to get the edges prepped for edge gluing and used Festool Dominos for extra support in the joint, but a regular biscuit or even dowels would do the trick to stabilize the edge joint. Believe it or not, I used regular 2x material for the table and 4x for the legs. Typically I go with furniture grade wood, but was looking for something more rustic and the 2x stock provided that. If you are going to go this way, I would suggest you let the lumber sit in your house for 2-3 months to get to the proper moisture content. Dimensional lumber is dried, but not to the level that furniture grade stuff is. I thickened the edges with some 3/4" pine that was planed down to 5/8" thickness. I wanted the thicker edge so that it would not look like a picnic table! A tip too, by the time you get into the 2x10's and 2x12's, they are cut from such large logs that the grain and any knots are usually pretty tight.

I then used a stain and applied 4 coats of Minwax oil-modified, water based poly. Let that cure and then applied a layer of paste wax and buffed it out.

-John

 

[timo]

Table looks awesome!
I just purchased a new dining room table about that size and you must of saved a lot of money doing it yourself because sheesh these things are expensive.

 

[scott_b]

Thanks John.